Voodoo (company)
Reverted 1 edit by ~2026-23836-40 (talk): The appointed of Rivaud is mentioned a few sentences later, but he is not a founder
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=== Background and early years (2013–2017)=== |
=== Background and early years (2013–2017)=== |
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| ⚫ | Voodoo was founded in 2013 by Alexandre Yazdi and Laurent Ritter. They had been friends since high school and had previously founded Studio Cadet in 2012, a services company for websites and mobile applications. Yazdi became the [[chief executive officer]] of Voodoo, while Gabriel Rivaud acted as the [[vice-president]] of games. According to Rivaud, the company was in turmoil for its first four years in operation and opted to change its business strategy thereafter. This change led to the development of “hyper-casual games” by Voodoo. Games were developed focusing on key metrics such as retention and playtime. With this data, the company designed its newer games to attract more players. Using the [[Unity (game engine)|Unity]] game engine, Voodoo tested one new game roughly every week. This method resulted in the successful release of ''Paper.io'' in 2016. |
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Voodoo was founded in 2013 by Alexandre Yazdi and Laurent Ritter, joined by Gabriel Rivaud. {{cite web |url=https://vizologi.com/business-strategy-canvas/voodoo-business-model-canvas/ |title=What is Voodoo's business model? |website=Vizologi |access-date=2026-04-19}} |
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Through 2017, Voodoo quadrupled its staff count to 80. In May 2018, the American banking company [[Goldman Sachs]], through its West Street Capital Partners VII fund, invested {{US$|200 million}} in Voodoo. It was the largest fundraising in the French technology sector since 2015. Yazdi and Ritter retained control of the company. At the time, Voodoo had, aside from its Paris headquarters, offices in [[Montpellier]] and [[Strasbourg]]. A development studio in [[Berlin]], Germany, was established in December 2018, headed by [[general manager]] Alexander Willink. The studio started out with roughly ten people, looking to eventually expand to 40 employees. Voodoo later hired key employees from developers [[Blizzard Entertainment]], [[King (company)|King]], and Mamau. |
Through 2017, Voodoo quadrupled its staff count to 80. In May 2018, the American banking company [[Goldman Sachs]], through its West Street Capital Partners VII fund, invested {{US$|200 million}} in Voodoo. It was the largest fundraising in the French technology sector since 2015. Yazdi and Ritter retained control of the company. At the time, Voodoo had, aside from its Paris headquarters, offices in [[Montpellier]] and [[Strasbourg]]. A development studio in [[Berlin]], Germany, was established in December 2018, headed by [[general manager]] Alexander Willink. The studio started out with roughly ten people, looking to eventually expand to 40 employees. Voodoo later hired key employees from developers [[Blizzard Entertainment]], [[King (company)|King]], and Mamau. |
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